The present invention relates generally to a management system and more specifically to a management system for assuring an appropriate use of expendable products. This invention is suitably applicable, for example, to a system for recycling expendable products. The xe2x80x9cexpendable productsxe2x80x9d include mediums and recording materials for use in printers, copying machines, facsimiles, word processors and composite apparatus of these. The mediums include inks, toners and ribbons and the recording materials include plain paper, OHP films and thermal paper.
The expendable products are often accommodated in cartridges, tanks or cases, whatever the containers are called. The recycling system of this invention is not limited to a field of printing and the expendable products widely range from fuel, lubricating oil, coolant and preservative to other compounds. The recycling system of this invention does not necessarily require refilling the expendable products into their containers and the spent containers may be discarded.
A xe2x80x9cnon-contact information mediumxe2x80x9d generally refers to a medium which has a combination of an information recording medium, such as IC chip, and a non-contact communication means, such as coil and antenna, for communication between the information recording medium and external devices, and which communicates in a non-contact manner with external devices. Hence, as long as it communicates in a non-contact mode, there are no limitations on the wavelength of radio wave or the communication distance. The non-contact information medium in the broad sense may use any communication means. This patent application, however, assumes that the communication is established via electromagnetic wave.
A typical non-contact information medium incorporating an IC chip is a non-contact IC card that communicates in a non-contact manner with a reader/writer by using, for example, electromagnetic coupling or microwave. In this application, the xe2x80x9cIC cardxe2x80x9d generally includes smart cards, intelligent cards, chip-in-cards, microcircuit (microcomputer) cards, memory cards, super cards, multifunction cards and combination cards.
The non-contact information medium is not limited to these cards in terms of shape and also includes so-called IC tags. Here the xe2x80x9cIC tagsxe2x80x9d have the similar functions to those of the IC cards and include all the information recording mediums of a stamp size or ultra-small size or with a shape of coin. They also include a coil-on-chip type module with a communication coil formed on the IC chip by a micro-fabrication technology.
In electrophotographic recording apparatus, such as ink jet printers and copying machines, the users are often required to use genuine products, such as dedicated inks, toners and paper contained in dedicated cartridges that are specified by the manufacturer (the xe2x80x9cgenuine products,xe2x80x9d unless otherwise specifically stated, include those products that can be properly identified as their equivalents).
One of the reasons for the required use of genuine products is that the manufacturer guarantees the performance of the apparatus by verifying beforehand that the desired performance of the apparatus (stable operation and stable output quality) can be assured when the genuine products are used. Another reason is the ease with which the expendable products can be replaced. Where a dedicated container is used, when it is checked and found reusable, the container needs only to be refilled with an expendable product and shipped again, which is advantageous from the standpoint of effective use of resources and contributes to a reduction in cost and environmental effects.
However, some users may use expendable products from other manufacturers which are not genuine and are often inexpensive but with degraded quality (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cpiratedxe2x80x9d product). In more concrete terms, the users may use a pirated container from the beginning or may purchase a genuine product at first and, when the expendable product runs out, fill the genuine container with the pirated expendable product. The pirated expendable product with degraded quality will lead to a failure or malfunction of the apparatus. There are users who even have the manufacturer guarantee the repair of the failed apparatus.
It is therefore an exemplary, general object of the present invention to provide a new and useful container and a management system that can solve the conventional problems.
More specifically, it is an exemplary object of the present invention to provide inexpensively a management system for a container and an expendable product which forestalls possible deterioration, performance degradation, failures or malfunctions of the apparatus by checking whether the container, preferably both the container and the expendable product, is a genuine product.
It is another exemplary object of the present invention to protect management data of the container and expendable product management system against being altered easily.
To achieve the above objectives, the container in one embodiment of the present invention has a storage portion to accommodate an expendable product used by the apparatus and a memory to store ID information of the container that can be read out by an external device, and is removably installed in the apparatus. With this container, the external device can determine whether or not the container is a genuine product, by reading the ID information stored in the memory.
The management system as an example embodiment of the present invention is a system for supplying the expendable product in a container for use in the apparatus, which system comprises: a memory joined to the container; and a mechanism to write or read information in the memory; wherein when the apparatus decides that the information stored in the memory is abnormal, a necessary step is taken. In the management system, when the apparatus decides that the information stored in the memory is abnormal (e.g., the container is not a genuine product, the expendable product accommodated in the container is not a genuine product, the permitted number/time of use is exceeded, or the container and/or the expendable product is degraded), this management system takes appropriate steps (e.g., stopping the operation of the apparatus, indicating that the information is abnormal, or indicating the steps to be taken).
The management system as another example embodiment of the present invention includes: a container removably installed in an apparatus and accommodating an expendable product to be used by the apparatus; a non-contact information medium positioned on the container; a reader/writer capable of communicating with the non-contact information medium in a non-contact manner; and a processing device connected to the reader/writer and adapted to check an appropriate use of the expendable product according to information obtained from the non-contact information medium by the reader/writer; wherein the non-contact information medium has a memory to store ID information of the container and a communication portion allowing the memory to communicate with the reader/writer in a non-contact manner. With this management system, the processing device can check whether the container is a genuine product by reading the ID information stored in the memory.
The management system as a further example embodiment of the present invention includes: a container removably installed in an apparatus and accommodating an expendable product to be used by the apparatus; a reader/writer; and a processing device connected to the reader/writer and adapted to check an appropriate use of the expendable product according to information obtained by the reader/writer; wherein the container has a storage portion to accommodate the expendable product, a memory to store ID information of the container and a communication portion allowing the memory to communicate with the reader/writer in a non-contact manner. With this management system, the processing device can check whether the container is a genuine product by reading the ID information stored in the memory.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.